STEVENS POINT – Same-sex couples in Portage County were disappointed to learn Monday that the county wasn’t issuing marriage licenses despite a Friday ruling from a federal judge ruling a ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional.

U.S District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled Friday that the state’s ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional; state Attorney General J.P. Van Hollen is appealing the decision and has asked a federal court to halt the issuing of same-sex marriage licenses until the appeal is resolved.

Portage County Corporation Counsel Mike McKenna said Monday that his office was waiting to hear a ruling on Van Hollen’s appeal before he gives legal advice to the county clerk’s office, which is responsible for issuing licenses.

Portage County Clerk Shirley Simonis said she planned to follow the county attorney’s decision and was not issuing licenses Monday.

Simonis said a handful of people have asked about the licenses, but no one had yet come to the county clerk’s office to request a license in response to Friday’s ruling.

Disappointment

Same-sex couples said the ruling was a step in the right direction that helps catch Wisconsin up to Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and other parts of the country that already allow same-sex marriage.

Melanie Kuolt, 37, of the town of Hull is one of those people. Kuolt and her wife, Lorie Dobrzyski, 53, were married in Minnesota last summer and were the first registered domestic partnership in Portage County.

Kuolt was glad to hear about the ban being ruled unconstitutional but disappointed that the county wasn’t issuing the licenses.

“It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to and was very optimistic that it would happen, but when it came right down to it, it was a little bit of a shock and I was absolutely overjoyed,” Kuolt said of the ruling.

Laura Goetz, 47, leader of the Stevens Point Chapter of Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbian and Gays, said she was frustrated that Portage County was among the 27 in the state refusing to issues licenses; 43 counties on Monday were granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples and two counties hadn’t yet determined if they would, according to a Gannett Wisconsin Media survey of county clerks across Wisconsin.

“I’ve always seen Wisconsin as being a leader in equality,” Goetz said. “It’s been really disappointing the last couple years to see us lag behind.”

Left wondering

Simonis and other clerks across the state were struggling Monday with what to do as gay couples lined up in some places requesting marriage licenses. Crabb, who issued Friday’s ruling, told the Wisconsin State Journal Monday that she never intended for clerks to begin issuing licenses immediately.

Her stance left county clerks to decide on their own whether they could legally issue licenses to same-sex couples. Clerks in Milwaukee and Madison began issuing licenses to same-sex couples within hours of the Friday ruling. Together the counties issued 238 licenses on Friday and Saturday.

In central Wisconsin, Marathon County was not issuing licenses, but Lincoln, Wood and Oneida counties began issuing them Monday.

“It’s been a big issue throughout the state,” McKenna said.

Journal reporter Sari Lesk contributed to this report. B.C. Kowalski can be reached at 715-345-2251. Find him on Twitter as @BCreporter.